Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Saturday, October 19, 2013

MRT 3 Scam Probe : Who Do We Tie Down In The Train Rails?

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"Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar has submitted an affidavit to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to formalize his accusation that officials of the Metro Rail Transit 3 were involved in an alleged $30-million extortion attempt on a Czech company that offered to supply trains."- PhilStar

A couple of corrections in the article (for what it is worth...): Wilson de Vera (former Liberal Party candidate for mayor of Calasiao) is actually with Ph Trams, the exclusive maintenance service provider for the MRT. Manolo Maralit is also not from MRT -- I believe that he is with a 3rd party consultancy firm. As some of the previous posters were hinting, there is much more to this affair than meets the eye (by the way, the President's kin, their family friends, and their associates at Inekon were working quite hard to beat out their Chinese competition for this latest bid). The bidding process for large projects in the Philippines in both the public and private sectors is usually rife with rigging, bribery, kickbacks, quid pro quo patronage appointments, etc. I've been witnessing it first-hand for years. Bad governance abounds (including corporate governance.

In earlier news...some relatives of the administration were also involved...but the stories were changed immediately...There is a story from Manila Times relating to this extortion:

"Presidential sister Ballsy and brother-in-law Eldon Cruz, former DOTC Secretary Pete Prado and Lopez-in-law Steve Psinakis on their alleged attempt to extort $30 million from a Czech company in exchange for MRT project contracts" - Dante Ang, Manila Times

"Rychtar has subsequently retracted his story involving the group of Ballsy, who were earlier implicated in the alleged extortion attempt, of any involvement in the case. Instead Rychtar said in his meetings with Transportation and Communications Sec. Emilio Abaya, he identified Al Vitangcol III as the one involved in the alleged shakedown on Inekon in exchange for getting the contract to supply 48 trains for the MRT expansion." - Tribune

Wazzup Pilipinas!

"A recent U.S. court decision clarified that media organizations cannot assume that photos shared via Twitter are rights-free, to be used as though they were in the public domain."

"Social networks may be in the public domain but it doesn't make pictures and articles public USE". This is a statement form one of the netizens who was alarmed by the apparent reply of Rappler's Maria Ressa after a certain Erwin Aguilon, with Twitter name Erwin AguilonDZIQ, reported to Rappler that they used his photo without permission. Though there was attribution to the source of the photograph, Rappler did not ask permission from him.

A screen capture of the tweets between Erwin Aguilon and Maria Ressa shows a reply made by the Rappler CEO, but later Maria Ressa explained her side saying that was her second tweet, and that she had a first tweet before that. Her statements below:

Maxie the Musicale : Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros Set to Open on November 9

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Bit by Bit Company, in cooperation with the PETA Theater Center and the Cultural Center of the Philippines, proudly brings to the stage “ Maxie the Musicale : Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros,” a coming-of-age musical about a gay teen who is torn between his love for a young cop and his loyalty to his family.

Based on Michiko Yamamoto's screenplay “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” (ufo Pictures, 2005), “ Maxie the Musicale : Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” features book and lyrics by Nicolas B. Pichay, music by William Elvin Manzano, JJ Pimpinio, and Janine Santos, and direction and choreography by Dexter M. Santos.

“ Maxie the Musicale : Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” tells the story of Maxie who belongs to a family of crooks living in a downtown community where daily living is a struggle to survive, in ways legal or not.

Maxie grew up as a cheerful, positive, and generous adolescent, always ready to cheer everyone up. With the help of his friends, he manages to overcome hurdles through banter, romantic movie marathons, and improvised beauty contests. In the absence of a mother, Maxie takes care of his family’s needs, and they never fail to shower him with their unconditional love, acceptance and protection.

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Cebu airport is now back to 100% normal operations after one day of temblor.

Following the aftermath of Tuesday’s temblor, the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) has decided to donate P 2-Million to the victims of the earthquake in the provinces of Cebu and Bohol out of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) budget.

The MCIAA Board of Directors met yesterday, 17 October 2013, and approved the release of P 1-Million each to the Provincial Governments of Cebu and Bohol as financial assistance for use in their relief operations.

“I commend MCIAA for this generous act at this critical time, and I hope this inspires others to help out as well. I personally visited our kababayans in these areas over the past two days and saw the difficulties they are going through. It is good for them to be reassured that government is here to help them,” said Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya.

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Havoc is the comfort zone of the kaiju and the sentai. One wreaks it, the other usurps it. Marcushiro Nada is a fanboy of both in the most fundamental sense. He has a thing for the biometric costume design, for the wanton destruction of paper cities, for the gaudy colors and the poetry of chaos. But it’s not as if you can boil his fourth one man show down to the sort of one-note outpouring of affection that is what often comes from a purely nostalgic impulse. Unguarded Moments is something else entirely. Call it revisionist nostalgia, if you will, for the way it goes back to a particular past but forces it to change shape when it gets there.

An unguarded moment implies candor but it goes further than that. By taking these characters, some of which Nada never grew up with, out of their comfort zones of mayhem, leeching them of their candy-bright hues and having them strike poses that suggest an unthought-of sense of normalcy and even propriety, capturing them with their defenses down if you will, Nada is exploring, and celebrating, the interstitial, breaking the fourth wall not only of an imaginary world, but of his own imagined childhood, by turning the touchstones of his youth into elaborate, gorgeous, self-reflexive puns, and using a medium he’s unfamiliar with that serves almost as an act of solidarity with his subjects, as if he, too, is placing himself in an unguarded moment of his own.

- Dodo Dayao

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The first episode of the highly-anticipated game show “Bet On Your Baby” hosted by well-loved showbiz personality and hands-on mom Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo is finally taking to television screens this Saturday (Oct 19) with none other than three favorite Kapamilya stars and their babies as the show’s very first contestants.

Ai Ai delas Alas, Anthony Taberna and Benjie Paras, along with their babies, are set to take on the “Bet On Your Baby” stage. Along with their respective companions, the three will be taking on the three different rounds of the game show, namely the initial round, the puzzle round, and the jackpot round.

In the first round, Ai Ai, Tunying and Benjie will be asked to guess how things will turn out inside the “Baby Dome”, where their babies will be. Whoever guesses right will be rewarded with P10,000.

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Philippines is a beautiful country but obviously, people travel to other countries for various reasons and they want to know visa requirements.

By definition, a visa is “An entry in a passport or other travel document made by an official of a government, indicating that the bearer has been granted authority to enter and re-enter the country concerned. It usually specifies the authorized length of stay, the period of validity, and the number of entries allowed during that period”.

Entry regulations vary from country to country. As far as Pinoys are concerned, there are countries which grant visa free access to their territories, ASEAN countries for example. There are others who allow “visa on arrival”, Nepal and India for example. In this case, a Pinoy can leave the Philippines without a visa, but, will have to secure one on arrival before submitting themselves at immigration.

According to data compiled by the DFA's Office of Consular Affairs and GMA News Online (as of January 2012), the following countries fall in the visa-free category, followed by the length of allowable stay by Filipinos: (I believe Japan has been added already on the list for 15 days)

The list of countries, although incomplete, is already of great value to Filipinos around the world. The list clearly has immediate value and utility, which is why we decided to publish it even in its in its incomplete form.

Wazzup Pilipinas!

As scholars of Pasig City Science High School, we usually experience a long-cramming week every before each periodical examination week. That long-cramming week is what we called as our very own "Hell Week" of the "Bangag Days".

During this week, our brain cells are exercised in the most extent way a brain could be exercised. We also called this week as our "Sleepness Nights" because we stay up late to finish our project which is always due the next day.

Yes, our teachers have given or said about a certain project months before the deadline. Since were also students and the word "Procastinate" was very well known to our vocabularies, we've grown large eyebags now for staying up late and finishing our projects.

Anyway, that was just a part of our "Hell Week". Also, during this week we usually take those last test or the Chapter test. It's not that a big deal, it's just another test right? Yes, but we normally have 11 subjects and in a frequent-possibility atmost of 8 subjects have to be taken in a single day.

Wazuup Pilipinas!
So, that is why he was always singing: ANAK.

Freddie Aguilar is the real idol! He is the real MANG KANOR...May bago ng kasabihan : Imbes na amoy lupa, may amoy nitso na rin pala. mahilig sa triple M yong girl...tripple M means: Matandang Mayaman Madali na ang buhay. Abuse of a minor? Child Molestation? Statutory rape? May parental consent daw eh. Kaya abswelto. Pwera na lang kung meron magrereklamo ibang kamag-anak.

♪ nung isilang ka sa mundong ito
kasing edad ko mga magulang mo ♫
at ang sabi nila ok na ok lng naman,
at di nagsisi sa pinili ng kanilang anak ♪

♫ Noong isilang ka sa mundong ito
Si Freddie pala magiging jowa mo
Kasing edad na sya ng Lolo mo ♫

Sa pag-ibig walang bata at matanda
Mamahalin kahit na ito'y amoy lupa ♫

Learning in Gaming : My Life As a Gamer and Student

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Computers are important in my daily life. It helps me make my projects, researches, homeworks and studies easier. The features of the 21st Century computers really helped my life. But one feature of the computer can be very addicting especially when improperly used: Gaming.

Last year, my parents bought a laptop for family use. Well, the laptop has a good graphics card and a fast processor. Ever since the laptop was bought, I downloaded many games that are of my liking. Call of Duty: MW3, Battlefield 3, Counter-Strike – anything that involves shooting. I play every Friday night and on holidays. If my mom didn’t stop me from playing, I can play for 5-6 hours.

My life revolved in gaming. This got even worse when I downloaded a game that was being advertised in Facebook: World of Tanks. As the name implies, World of Tanks shows a variety of tanks that existed (in blueprints and in the battlefield) during World War II. Since I live in the Philippines, I play in the SEA server (now Asian Server). Back then it was on beta test. I met people of different nationalities (mostly Singaporean and Australian).